Imposter
by OnceUponASunsetDream
Summary: Diana asked. "Who dares?" Clark shook his head slowly, hands fisted at his sides. "And why haven't the boys stopped him?" he asked. "Or told us?" "I do not know." Diana said with vengeance in her voice. "But I believe we should ask them." oOo There is a new Batman in town and neither Clark nor Diana have any idea who he is.


Clark looked around at the Justice League meeting room, currently only occupied by himself and Wonder Woman. It had barely been two months since Bruce's death and the League was struggling without him. It hadn't really been so obvious how vital the dark, scary brooding Batman had been to the League until he was gone. But now…he was.

Bruce's family had refused to let Batman have a funeral. Bruce Wayne, yes, in fact they had been the ones to invite the League to the otherwise very private ceremony. But they had refused to let even a whisper of the Batman's death slip out. The meetings seemed _wrong_ without his dark and brooding presence. The League all shifted and glanced uneasily at the empty chair beside Superman's where the shadows were thickest and looked _wrong_ without a tall and brooding mass sitting solidly within them.

Clark cleared his throat and Diana glanced up at him. "We need to talk about Gotham." he said. "With…Batman gone many of the criminals have gone wild and I don't think Nightwing and Robin will be able to deal all by themselves."

Diana nodded from beside him, pulling up a hologram showing live news from Gotham. A reporter was standing in a Gotham street the blue and red lights of police cars flashing behind her. The smouldering remains of a circus tent were the main focus of the report and Commissioner Gordon could be seen in the background with several other detectives. "The criminal known as 'Professor Pyg' has been sent to Arkham Asylum after his reign of terror was put to an end. Pyg was wanted for kidnapping his victims, removing their face, replacing it with a 'doll's face' and forcing the mutilated people to aid in his experiments. We must again thank the Dynamic Duo for their success in this latest case."

There was silence in the meeting room as the report ended and the hologram was pulled down. "An imposter?" Diana asked. "Who dares?"

Clark shook his head slowly, hands fisted at his sides. "And why haven't the boys stopped him?" he asked. "Or told us?"

"I do not know." Diana said with vengeance in her voice. "But I believe we should ask them."

The cave was apparently empty when they entered but looked far from unused. There was a new Batsuit in the row of glass cases. It was just as black as all the others but it was slightly more lightweight, plated differently and the bat on the chest was a little longer and grey without the oval behind. The cape was shorter but to the casual observer there would be little to no difference. The sight of it made Clark's blood boil. Apparently Bruce's children knew about the imposter.

The sound of Diana's sword being drawn made Clark turn around and he was mildly surprised to see a small Robin standing before her. He had moved just as silently as Bruce did and Clark, in his distraction, hadn't heard him. This was a new Robin, not Tim. Connor had told Clark that Tim had altered his costume and name and gone on some kind of a sabbatical but he wasn't aware that there was a new Robin.

The kid scowled just as darkly as Bruce always had, his face shadowed in the depths of dark hood. His hands were crossed across the trademark red tunic with the golden R and the armour in this version of the new Robin suit was a good deal heavier than any worn by the others.

"You are trespassing." The kid told them arrogantly. "Leave."

Diana re-sheathed her sword and crossed her own arms, looking down her nose at the child. "Why should we?" she returned in a similarly arrogant tone. "Batman was our dearest friend and now his name and his legacy are being besmirched.

There was a definite smirk on Robin's masked face now. This kid was a far cry from Dick or Tim or even Jason. "His legacy is being honoured." It was slightly unnerving to hear the cultured, bordering on British, tones in the high voice of a child with such a high level of arrogance. Most didn't gain that particular height until their mid-twenties at the earliest, the prime of youth and cocky. "He would be proud of its continuation."

"Are you sure about that?" Clark asked in his most disappointed voice. It rarely failed to get people to spill their guts. "We knew Batman. He never wanted anyone to bear his burdens."

The voice apparently had absolutely no effect. Robin snorted. His derision was abundantly clear in his every fibre of being. "Well that is none of your business. _You_ may have considered him a friend." the lack of reciprocation implied in that friendship made their being there seem flimsy. Clark refused to be cowed by a child. No matter how vicious. "But he was our family."

Clark took another look at the boy. "Damian?" he asked. He had never met the son of Bruce and Talia al Ghul but he had heard enough stories. "Did your dad make you Robin before he…died?"

Damian tossed his head and turned away from them, walking over to the computer. "Father did not trust me." he said irritably. "Not yet. He barely knew me. I became Robin when Batman returned. He trusts me. This is still none of your business. Leave."

"We will not be leaving until we speak with Batman." Diana said firmly. "What he is doing is wrong. He is wearing the mask of a dead man."

"No." Damian told them firmly. "You're wrong." his fingers trailed easily over the keyboard and he sifted easily through case files on Professor Pyg and his poor Dollotrons. "Batman is not just a man. Batman is a legend."

"Is that why you wouldn't allow us to give our fallen comrade the respect he deserves?" Diana asked sharply. "That is wrong."

Damian didn't deign to answer, tapping away at the computer until Diana stalked angrily forward and turned the high-backed chair around to face them. The child sighed irritably and although he was clearly ten years old, small and compact he seemed so much older and bigger even with Diana towering over him. "Batman was an urban legend for many years even after the formation of the Justice League." he sneered the team name and rolled his eyes at them. "Batman has always been so much more to Gotham than any of you to the rest of the world. It has taken me some time but I believe I have come to understand this city and her inhabitants. They do not have nor want heroes such as yourselves. Batman will never die. He will evolve and adapt as Gotham does. My father is dead." the statement was clinically delivered but there was a fluctuation in Damian's heartbeat that indicated his true feelings. "Batman is not. I am Robin but I am not the first Robin. One day I shall be Batman and then I shall be replaced. You cannot kill a legend."

Diana let go of the chair, stepping back, mouth sightly agape. Clark opened his mouth to speak but froze, tilting his head, listening. He could hear the rumble of a car echoing in the long tunnels in the cave system. The Batmobile that Bruce had used was still on display but the car that pulled up to the turntable below the console was very different. It wasn't black to begin with. It was a deep, dark red. There was something strange about the shape of it too, as though it wasn't made solely for being a…tank. The doors rose up with a faint hydraulic hiss and the Batman who stepped out was certainly not what Clark had been expecting.

He was smiling. If that hadn't been unnerving enough Batman, or whoever he really was, fell easily into a forward roll and then sprang from his hands up to their level and beamed at Damian whose scowl lessened slightly. The smile fell almost comically fast when he caught sight of Diana and Clark who were glaring at him. "Oh dear."

His voice was familiar to Clark somehow. "Indeed." Robin said haughtily. "They broke into the cave and suggest that the legacy of Batman is being besmirched."

"Well I can see where they're coming from, Kid." Batman said in a voice that was just a little deeper than it had been moments previously. "The first Batman was their friend and they weren't told about this particular…contingency plan apparently."

"Contingency plan?" Diana asked dangerously.

Batman shrugged. "He had plans for everything didn't he?" It was more a statement than a question. "Of course he had a plan in place in the event of his death."

That was logic that neither Clark nor Diana could find fault with. Bruce was well known for his many plans and then the plans within those plans and within those again. But why had he not told them? Clark voiced the question and the man wearing the Batsuit shrugged again, shooing Damian out of the chair so that he could tap at the keyboard. It was strange to see the new Robin move so easily. Clark would have sworn that the boy would have put at least a token fight but he went easily, even perching on the arm of the chair.

Batman wrapped an arm absently around Damian's back and the sight of a black armoured arm wrapped around a Robin perched on the arm was so reminiscent of Bruce's early days as Batman with his very first Robin that Clark did a double take. And then again. He couldn't see through the cowl, Bruce had long worked out how to shield it from him, but he saw the man cringe. It had taken him a while but in the early days of their partnership, Clark had realised that Bruce's trick of being able to read him with his back turned wasn't actually some latent meta ability but actually the man watching his reflection in the cleverly positioned screens.

"Dick?" Clark whispered. Diana turned to him, her face shocked and Batman's shoulders hunched slightly.

He turned in the chair, keeping a firm hold on Damian, perched on the arm and grinned ruefully. He pulled down the cowl, revealing the young sweaty face of the boy they had watched grow. "Surprise."

Robin snorted delicately. "Honestly, Richard you are a disgrace."

Dick grinned, apparently not offended in the slightest. "Thanks, Little D."

Diana let out an exclamation of shock. "Nightwing!"

"Not anymore." Dick said, sounding the slightest bit sad for the fact. "Bruce left us all a message in his will. He said he didn't want any of us to take his burden, you're right."

"Then why would you do this?" Clark asked softly. "You became Nightwing because you didn't want to be Batman. What are you doing, Dick? This is a mistake."

Dick frowned at them and Damian outright glared. "I didn't see any of you here." Damian said snidely. "Where were you when all the crooks in the city rioted?"

"Riots?" Diana demanded, drawing her sword again. "Where? I shall squash them!"

Dick ruffled his hair, carefully peeling off Damian's mask when the kid raised his face in his direction with an arrogant and expectant tilt. "You're a bit late for that, Diana. The riots were six weeks ago." Damian slid back into the large chair when Dick stood, shedding the cape and beginning to peel off the layers of armour.

"There was a mass breakout from Arkham." Damian told them with a look on his face that suggested he thought of them little better than something vile he found on the sole of his shoe. "Riots and fighting everywhere. Gotham needed a Batman. Todd and Drake proved inadequate and I am, thus far, too young. Grayson was the only option."

"That's glowing praise." Dick advised with an air of mock solemnity. He had changed from the black under-armour he had been wearing and now sported an old oversized t-shirt and faded sweat pants. "And also a good question." he crossed his arms across his broad chest and frowned at them. There was no hint of a smile on his face. "Where the hell were you? Bruce never wanted to rely on people, especially the League, but you were his friends. I thought for sure you would have come to help. I realised you weren't coming when a week had passed and the latest news from Metropolis was talking about the latest cat you saved.

"I realise Gotham is somewhat isolated from the rest of the country." He continued icily. It was obvious he had learned a lot from Bruce in intimidation and body language over the years. "But it's not like the people of Gotham weren't on the six o'clock news." Dick stood tall in the face of Clark and Diana's obvious shame and confusion. "Looks like Bruce was wrong."

"Leave." Damian demanded, standing regally and striding past them without so much as a glance at them. "I am going to take a shower and then retire, Richard. I shall ask Pennyworth to make you a cocoa."

Dick's mouth twitched into a faint smile. "Thanks, Damian. I'll be up in a minute." he ruffled the boy's hair as he passed and ignored the scowl he was awarded. "He's right though." Dick told them once the door into the manor had slid shut, the noise echoing loudly in the silence of the cave. "You should go."

Clark's hands were fisted in his cape and he found himself unable to meet Dick's cool blue eyes. "Ok." He agreed, hovering a few inches from the ground. "I'm-I'm sorry, Dick for what happened. I- we didn't know."

Dick's eyebrow raised. "I find that rather hard to believe." Diana opened her mouth to retort but Dick continued before she could speak. "Either way. I am Batman now whether you like it or not. I think I'm gonna keep a few of Bruce's rules. No metas in Gotham without permission or twenty four hour notice."

Diana made to argue but Clark grabbed her arm in warning. "I understand, Dick. We'll be leaving now. Would we be able to visit soon, though? Just to check in?"

Dick leaned back against the display case and his eyebrow rose even higher. He clearly didn't believe a word Clark was saying. Gone was that bouncing little boy who had been so ecstatic to meet Superman and who had called them Aunt and Uncle. This was the man Bruce raised and he knew that the man would have been incredibly proud of his children. "If you must." Dick allowed. "But Damian and I are moving base next week." he didn't give a new address. "As it is, I'd like you to leave now please."

Clark nodded and pulled a stormy- faced Diana along beside him. "Ok." he smiled disarmingly. "We'll see you around, Dick. Bruce would be proud of you."

Dick chuckled softly. "I'm not so sure about that." he murmured. "But there's not much the big guy can do about it now is there?"

Diana shook her head, eyes dark and angry but she was unresisting when she left the cave with Clark. There was a lot about this situation they had been uninformed about. Neither of them had ever really understood Gotham and they had understood Bruce and his children even less. It was unfair of them to make assumptions on the functioning of the Bats. The price of their ignorance was expulsion from the family they had been considered to belong to, extended though they may have been.

Richard Grayson was Batman now and nothing they did or said would change that. So when, several weeks later, a full League meeting was called and a familiar black silhouette loomed in the shadowy seat beside Clark's they accepted it without the protests the majority of the League had presented. Sitting down at his seat at the head of the table, Clark was only mildly surprised to note that Wally looked completely unruffled by the appearance of a new Batman. Perhaps the rumours of speedsters in Gotham during the period between Bruce's death and Dick's ascension weren't completely the work of dramatists and drug-addicts. It was nice to see that, despite his own well-placed guilt, at least one of their number hadn't abandoned their friends.


End file.
